Current recipe obsession: beans and rice anything. This speedy Coconut Curry Rice Bowl is a flavorful entree featuring fluffy jasmine rice and nutty skillet chickpeas. This recipe can easily be whipped up in just a few minutes. The flavors include coconut-curry, sweet potato, garlic, spinach and a touch of either lime or lemon juice to bring everything to life. Get the recipe...

Love the hint of caramelized garlic.

Sweet potato adds sweetness and hearty texture.

Fluffy jasmine rice worked so well in this dish!

Rice + Beans Bowls. My go-to warm lunch lately is a rice and beans bowl. I use a pre-cooked rice - those frozen bagsthat you can steam in minutes in the microwave - and then everything else comes quickly together in a big sizzling skillet. Veggies, spices, flavor accents. Beans and rice is such a timeless and comforting vegetarian and vegan duo.
More Rice + Beans... Another super speedy rice and bean bowl that I love is my peanut butter chickpeas bowl.
Ingredient Note: anytime I say rice and beans, you can absolutely get creative with what that needs to mean for you based on the ingredients that you have in your pantry. Rice could be brown rice, jasmine rice or even quinoa or another fluffy grain. Beans could mean chickpeas, white beans, black beans or even lentils.

Coconut Milk. I think some people are afraid to cook with coconut milk because the high fat content and extreme richness intimidates them. It's true that if you dump the entire can of coconut milk into a skillet like this the texture can turn very rich, very quickly. But if you use coconut milk in a restrained way, it really adds so much lovely creaminess and body to a rice dish. I only used a 1/4 cup to start, which was enough. But then I bumped it up to 1/3 cup for a bit more moisture. And if you want, you could even add a little more if you crave that richness!

And I just love coconut and curry paired together along with some citrus. You get the heat, some body and bright acid.

Instructions

Fill a small soup pot with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the sweet potato and boil until tender, usually five minutes should do it, depending on how small your pieces are.

Pop your rice bag in the microwave for about two minutes to heat. (If using leftover rice, you do not need to warm up.)

Warm a large skillet over high heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil along with the garlic. Cook for a minute to toast the garlic and bring out the flavor. Add in the chickpeas. Toss chickpeas a bit in the oiled pan, cover with a lid just in case the chickpeas start sizzling and popping a bit. After about a minute or two, add in the coconut milk, lemon juice, rice, maple or agavce syrup, curry powder, salt and pepper.Toss everything very well together and lower the heat to low. Cover with lid and allow the flavors to marinate together for a minute or two.

Lift the lid and do a taste test of the rice mixture. Add more salt, pepper, or even maple syrup as desired. You can even add in another splash of coconut milk if you like a richer texture. When you like the flavors, you can move on to the last cooking step.

Drain the sweet potatoes and transfer them to the skillet. Add the spinach to the skillet as well. Fold the spinach and potatoes into the rice mixture. Transfer to a serving bowl to serve,

Add 1-2 Tbsp of fresh citrus (lemon or lime) over top to serve. You can also add some fresh pepper, if desired. Serve with toasted slices of pita bread. Hummus or tahini sauce would also be a nice side. Enjoy!

Yield: 3 servings

Prep Time: 00 hrs. 05 mins.

Cook time: 00 hrs. 12 mins.

Total time: 17 mins.

Nutrition

Current recipe obsession: beans and rice anything. This speedy Coconut Curry Rice Bowl is a flavorful entree featuring fluffy jasmine rice and nutty skillet chickpeas. This recipe can easily be whipped up in just a few minutes. The flavors include coconut-curry, sweet potato, garlic, spinach and a touch of either lime or lemon juice to bring everything to life. Get the recipe...

Love the hint of caramelized garlic.

Sweet potato adds sweetness and hearty texture.

Fluffy jasmine rice worked so well in this dish!

Rice + Beans Bowls. My go-to warm lunch lately is a rice and beans bowl. I use a pre-cooked rice - those frozen bagsthat you can steam in minutes in the microwave - and then everything else comes quickly together in a big sizzling skillet. Veggies, spices, flavor accents. Beans and rice is such a timeless and comforting vegetarian and vegan duo.
More Rice + Beans... Another super speedy rice and bean bowl that I love is my peanut butter chickpeas bowl.
Ingredient Note: anytime I say rice and beans, you can absolutely get creative with what that needs to mean for you based on the ingredients that you have in your pantry. Rice could be brown rice, jasmine rice or even quinoa or another fluffy grain. Beans could mean chickpeas, white beans, black beans or even lentils.

Coconut Milk. I think some people are afraid to cook with coconut milk because the high fat content and extreme richness intimidates them. It's true that if you dump the entire can of coconut milk into a skillet like this the texture can turn very rich, very quickly. But if you use coconut milk in a restrained way, it really adds so much lovely creaminess and body to a rice dish. I only used a 1/4 cup to start, which was enough. But then I bumped it up to 1/3 cup for a bit more moisture. And if you want, you could even add a little more if you crave that richness!

And I just love coconut and curry paired together along with some citrus. You get the heat, some body and bright acid.

Instructions

Fill a small soup pot with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the sweet potato and boil until tender, usually five minutes should do it, depending on how small your pieces are.

Pop your rice bag in the microwave for about two minutes to heat. (If using leftover rice, you do not need to warm up.)

Warm a large skillet over high heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil along with the garlic. Cook for a minute to toast the garlic and bring out the flavor. Add in the chickpeas. Toss chickpeas a bit in the oiled pan, cover with a lid just in case the chickpeas start sizzling and popping a bit. After about a minute or two, add in the coconut milk, lemon juice, rice, maple or agavce syrup, curry powder, salt and pepper.Toss everything very well together and lower the heat to low. Cover with lid and allow the flavors to marinate together for a minute or two.

Lift the lid and do a taste test of the rice mixture. Add more salt, pepper, or even maple syrup as desired. You can even add in another splash of coconut milk if you like a richer texture. When you like the flavors, you can move on to the last cooking step.

Drain the sweet potatoes and transfer them to the skillet. Add the spinach to the skillet as well. Fold the spinach and potatoes into the rice mixture. Transfer to a serving bowl to serve,

Add 1-2 Tbsp of fresh citrus (lemon or lime) over top to serve. You can also add some fresh pepper, if desired. Serve with toasted slices of pita bread. Hummus or tahini sauce would also be a nice side. Enjoy!